Catching up...

Since it took me about a month to get the trip recaps finished, I now need to get back to the past few weeks! Right after we got back from Europe, Paul and Retta came for a visit on their trip back up to Michigan. I made dinner Friday night and on Saturday, we took them around uptown. Several new things have come to Charlotte in the last year or so; the Betchler Museum, the NASCAR hall of fame, the Cultural Campus, and the Epicenter. We walked around and rode the light rail from one end to the next (not far at all, but I had never ridden the light rail before!). The NRA was also going on that weekend and Sarah Palin was in town, so uptown was actually pretty lively for a Saturday.





We went to dinner at Loco Lime on Saturday night, and then they were off bright and early on Sunday morning.


Memorial Day weekend, Russ came to visit from San Francisco. Unfortunately, it was raining most of the day on Saturday, but we had a nice day on Sunday. We went to the Whitewater Center and went rafting and rock climbing.








Well, I should say that I tried rock climbing. Didn't actually make it very far. Those little "rocks" that you grab really hurt your hands so I did not make it to the top. At least I tried and realized it wasn't my thing! Crossed that one off the list. I loved the rafting though. We have gone several times, and we had the best guide this time. We told him we wanted an adventure run so he was always holding us back behind others so we could head back into the rapids a second time. John and Russ both ended up falling out one time. I kind of wanted to fall out because it was so hot, but never did. The other note worthy event that took place on Russ's visit was that Russ bet John he could not run a 1K in under 3 minutes. We took the car to a nearby neighborhood that has not been developed yet and drove around until we found a perfect 1K route. Russ clocked the run on his iphone and I had my flip recording the run. At first I was doubting John, but he surprised both of us and ended up finishing in just under 3 minutes. I tried to load the video here, but kept getting an error for some reason.


We went to Cuban Pete's for dinner so Russ could try one of John's favorite burgers- the burger with chorizo. There was some fight on tv that night that Russ wanted to watch but surprisingly that is not my thing, so I think I ended up just reading that night. I regret that I did not get any pics of John and Russ, I got them in the video, but not on my camera!



The next weekend, we headed back out to the whitewater center. They were having a dog's day sponsored by the humane society so we got to bring the little miss along. We met Nate, Noelle, Libbie, Dixie, Sam, Sam, Jud and Izzo for lunch and then took the pups over to the dog area. It was so hot, they had a pool for the dogs, but Morgan did not want to get in.

Finally got one with all 4 dogs looking at the camera!

They also had an agility area setup. It was so hot that the dogs were pretty lazy. Dixie found a mound of ice and just plopped under the table and sat on it. Smart dog!





We did not stay too long, but I think the dogs had fun. And I got to snuggle this little one, so I had fun too.